A Change Of Heart On Social Media Management

I’ve maintained that social media management should be done "in-house"…preferably by someone in charge of the company. I still hold that as an ideal for small businesses. If it can be done by the owner, or manager, or even just someone in charge of marketing within an organization it should be done inside the company. However, I have been connecting with a lot more small business owners and I’m finding that many of these owners simply haven’t got the time. More than that, most of them haven’t got the desire to manage social media. They know that there is value in social media but they simply have too much to concern themselves with.

I’ve been working with a very ambitious and growing company recently and they have been trying to be more present on social media. In the few meetings when we’ve drafted social media posts together it became clear to me that the process for them was very taxing. Creativity came in spades but the fundamentals of marketing, the difficulty in deciding a message and the lack of confidence in using the tools at their disposal quickly demonstrated to me that some people are not prepared to manage their own social media.

I’ve been working with clients since 2011 on how to manage social media in 15 minutes a day. I’ve graduated a few clients and they’re doing splendid. I’m still working with several clients on adding additional networks to their suite of social media channels. Without many exceptions, however, they all struggle to make that goal of 15 minutes of social media management. They invariably spend an hour, or two, or sometimes more drafting, redrafting, taking picture after picture, and struggling with accounts until finally they give up and instead of creating a post everyday or several posts a day they create a post every couple of days or every couple of weeks. This struggle is why I have added social media management as a service for small to medium size businesses.

Another consideration that has come to mind recently is that as a business owner your time should be spent doing the things you do best. This isn’t a new concept. If you are a baker you should bake…you shouldn’t be expected to be an expert at something you aren’t an expert. It takes a strong business owner to realize that they can’t do it all and that they aren’t an expert at everything. As a matter of respect to those who are spending time doing the things that they do best I’m now offering to do my best for them.

The difficulty in taking on social media management for clients is knowing the industry, understanding the niche, connecting with the audience and being authentic to the company culture. This takes time, effort, and more time. It’s no small undertaking and requires constant communication and engagement with the client. It’s not a product in a late-night infomercial…you can’t "set it and forget it". As your off-site social media manager I’ll be in contact with you frequently. I’ll be asking for news, stories, and selfies. I’ll be learning about the things that are important to you…and things that are important to your business. I’ll learn what keeps your crew happy and what makes your clients happy. Then I’ll get to work.

Social media can have a dramatic impact on your business for positive and negative. If you’d like to learn more how off-loading social media management is going to grow your business give me a call.